Welcome reader to my blog - a mixture of this and that. Now that we are living in a retirement community in downtown Columbia, MD my personal gardening activities are somewhat curtailed. I still enjoy visiting gardens, reading, watching wildlife on my walks, traveling, and occasional food commentary. Please leave a comment if you feel inspired to do so. I read every one of them.

Friday, August 5, 2016

European Vacation - Part XIII

Vienna, Austria

We arrived in Vienna just after dinner and were whisked off to an Austrian Heuriger (wine tavern). Wine was fairly new and not so good. There was an accordion player, some singing, some dancing some bread and spreads. It was not a highlight of the trip.

The next morning though we went on a Hidden Vienna tour that was a highlight for us. Here are some of the sights.

One of the oldest churches in Vienna.

Plague monument - these got more and more elaborate as we traveled north on the Danube.

A very whimsical clock.

St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Our guide kept referring to squirrels and pointing up. We couldn't see any squirrels. I asked if he was saying scrolls but no he thought another word for the towers was squirrels but he meant spires. It messed up his talk after that so we told him to just say squirrels because we knew what he meant.

Down in the subway there is an entrance to a museum that features what remains of a very old chapel. No written records survive that explain the purpose of this small chapel. It was found when the subway was dug. Another church had been built on top of it but none of those records refer to this place.

The walls show fainting paintings of crosses.

We stopped for a midday snack of apple strudel and coffee.

Back to St. Stephen's this "squirrel" was never built to the height of the other.

We saw Roman remains.

Walked around the Hapsburg Palace but not in this one.

Three clocks on this building.

Back to the riverboat for lunch and then in the afternoon we took a trip to the summer palace. Subject of another post.